Oregon's assisted-suicide law used by 15 people in first year

Posted: Thursday, February 18, 1999

The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - In the first year under the nation's only assisted-suicide law, 15 terminally ill people in Oregon used it to end their lives, and there was no evidence they suffered painful, lingering deaths as opponents had warned.

In a report published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, Oregon health officials also said that fears that the law would be used as an easy way out by people afraid of financial ruin or extreme pain proved unfounded.

Rather, health officials found that use of the law has so far been driven overwhelmingly by the desire of strong-willed patients to exercise some control over the way they died.

"Many physicians reported that their patients had been decisive and independent throughout their lives or that the decision to request a lethal prescription was consistent with a longstanding belief about the importance of controlling the manner in which they died," the report said.

The first report on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act showed that doctors prescribed lethal drugs to 23 people in 1998 but that six died from their illnesses before using the drugs. Two others still were alive as of Jan. 1.

Thirteen of the 15 who took the lethal drugs were cancer patients. The others were suffering from heart or lung diseases.

The average age of those who took their lives was 69.

Backers of assisted suicide said the report shows the law is working well and confirms their predictions that only a small number of people would make use of it.

"It's what we expected - a year of impeccable implementation," said Barbara Coombs Lee, chief sponsor of the ballot measure that established the law.

First approved in 1994 and reaffirmed by Oregon voters in November 1997, the law allows a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to hasten the death of patients who have less than six months to live.

The Roman Catholic Church and others spent millions of dollars to try to derail the law. They relied chiefly on the argument that some people would die excruciating, torturous deaths after taking the drugs.

However, Oregon's Health Division found no evidence of botched suicides, and no complications such as vomiting or seizures from the lethal doses of barbiturates. Nearly all of those who took the drugs were unconscious within five minutes, and most were dead within an hour.

Four patients died about three hours after taking the drugs and one died 11 hours afterward, the report said.

Despite the apparent lack of technical problems, the leader of the Portland Archdiocese denounced assisted suicide as an immoral act.

"Every time a physician writes a prescription for lethal medication, we are confronted again with our failure to offer compassionate care," Archbishop John Vlazny said. "In allowing assisted suicide to continue, the state of Oregon dismisses the value of human life. This thought fills me with sadness and shame."

Dr. Peter Rasmussen, a Salem oncologist who has assisted in two suicides, said his patients slipped peacefully into a coma almost immediately after eating chocolate pudding laced with barbiturates.

"It was very positive to have the relatives gather around and say their final goodbyes, and to reminisce about their family stories," Rasmussen said.

He said he was not surprised by the relatively low number of suicides. "In my experience with cancer patients, they want every day they can get," he said. They want to live, they don't want to die."

That's the case with Barbara Oskamp, a West Linn woman who suffers from a terminal brain tumor. She said she doesn't know if she will use assisted suicide, but might if it appears she no longer is able to take care of herself or becomes a burden to her relatives.

"It gives me feelings of fantastic relief to know that I will have a choice about how my final days will go," she said. "It lowers my fear levels a lot."